Electrification Hub concentrating efforts to reduce the environmental impacts of heavy traffic
Heavy transport today accounts for around 30 per cent of all energy consumption. Furthermore, heavy transport contributes to a large share of the negative environmental impact through its emissions. Therefore Electrification Hub, a national and international hub in electrification, energy and mobility, with a special focus on heavy transport, is being established. Its goal is to contribute towards Sweden’s set targets of reducing the environmental impact of heavy traffic through a 70 per cent reduction of emissions.
Electrification Hub is a collaboration project between MDH and other HEIs, the private sector, Region Västmanland and Västerås City. The purpose of Electrification Hub is to drive development in electromobility in Sweden, and thus to be a part of the accelerating shift to achieve the national goal of sharply reduced emissions from heavy transport.
− By building collaborations around testing and demonstration environments, strengthening CPD and research, and also working on accelerating innovations and shortening the lead times between idea and industrialisation, Electrification Hub will be able to contribute to Sweden’s goals of reduced environmental impact, says Elin Svanström, newly-appointed Process Manager of Electrification Hub.
A motor in the shift to electrified transport
Electrification Hub will work as an independent platform that will enable national and international cooperation on electrified transport, which in turn will contribute to reduced emissions.
- We want to be a motor in the shift to electrified transport. Companies, large as well as small, are sitting on different solutions, which together can create a major change when we apply them at system level. But to be able to put the solutions into practice, open test environments will be needed, in which we can connect companies, research, innovations and startups. And it is just this that Electrification Hub can contribute towards, says Elin Svanström.
Innovation can be promoted through collaboration
Elin Svanström has recently come from Volvo Construction Equipment, where she has been working with questions linked to brand development, communication and sustainability at the corporate and concern levels. She also has broad experience of local and global development and collaboration projects.
− This means that I have a broad understanding of how different trades work and how innovation can be promoted through collaboration. The challenge in her role as Process Manager of Electrification Hub is to gather all the wills together and be able to drive forward fast enough. Everybody knows and understands that we have to change quickly to meet the goals in the Paris Agreement, and there are national roadmaps for a fossil-free Sweden on the table. The will to change exists – now it’s a question of acting quickly, and doing it together, says Elin Svanström.
Included in this collaboration are initially Mälardalen University (MDH), ABB, Alstom, Epiroc, Hitachi ABB Power Grids, Innoenergy, Northvolt, Scania, Svealandstrafiken, Volvo Construction Equipment, RISE, Uppsala University, and Region Västmanland and Västerås City. Together SEK 21 million are being invested for starting up the work, and of this amount half has been granted by the European Regional Development Fund in East Central Sweden.
− Together we can make a difference to the climate, where the Government’s Climate Action Plan identifies heavy transport as the most important effort to achieve the climate goals. We are very proud of this venture, which will put our region on the world map for electrification. It demonstrates our strength when we, Region Västmanland and Västerås City, together with the participating companies and our partners in academia, institutes and the surrounding regions, come together in a common direction, says Helena Jerregård, Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Collaboration at MDH.